Showdown at state: A coach battles the school he played for today

Blog Post by: Howard Sinker

June 14, 2013 - 9:47 AM

This is a story even better than the no-hitters that were thrown in the first round of the state high school baseball tournament.

Today at 2:30 in St. Cloud, after a surprising run to the state tournament and a quarterfinal victory over Minnehaha Academy, coach Justin Stohs will lead his Watertown-Mayer team against Perham in the Class 2A semifinals.

Stohs was a star at Perham. He graduated in 1995 and went on to play college baseball at Concordia-Moorhead.

Looking on in the stands today will be Stohs' brother and former Perham teammate, the high-profile Twins blogger Seth Stohs, who is part of the TwinsCentric group that blogs for startribune.com and a part of the group that created TwinsDaily.com.

Seth graduated from Perham in '93 and they were the Nos. 3 and 4 hitters in the Perham batting order back in the day.

"It's one of those things, either my high school alma mater will get to play for a state title at Target Field on Monday, or my brother will," Seth Stohs said.

There will be no mixed loyalty at Dick Putz Field.

Perham wins in state baseball... never thought there would be a scenario where Perham would play in state and I'll cheer for the other team!

"It's one of those things," Seth Stohs said. "Either my high school alma mater will get to play for a state title at Target Field on Monday, or my brother will. Family first, right? of course. Obviously our family is pretty proud of Justin for what he and his coaches and players have done -- and also just in general, of course -- and we're really excited for him. He works hard. He puts in the time. It's fun to get to see him get an opportunity like this."

Perham, by the way, is kind of the Eden Prairie of outstate Minnesota. This will be seventh state tournament in 2012-13 for the Yellowjackets.

Things didn't look good for Watertown-Mayer when it lost to No. 1 seed Holy Family in the second round of the section tournament, but the Royals rallied to win six games in the double-elimination tournament to reach state. That the team are meeting is something of a surprise. Neither of them were seeded, but Perham knocked off No. 2 seed Delano in Thursday's quarterfinals and Watertown-Mayer beat No. 3-seed Minnehaha.

"This will be the first time I will not be able to cheer for the school," Seth said. "It's going to be weird going to the game in St. Cloud, knowing a bunch of the Perham people (and) a bunch of Perham people knowing Justin."